Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

80 reviews

thereaderfriend's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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rachelwierick's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Definitely a fun quick read! The audiobook was only 3 hours long. I do love Robin Miles, but I struggled a bit to understand everything. The constant accents mixed with varying audio levels (good dramatic effect, but difficult to hear while driving) made me strain to listen here and there. But still, I enjoyed it! The plot structure and length were very cinematic. I couldn’t help but see this as a movie or a mini series. It would be so cool to watch Binti go through these events on screen! I found the sci-fi futuristic elements quite novel, not feeling derivative of anything else I’ve read or seen. I also enjoyed how even though there were some exciting action scenes, the bulk of the action revolves around Binti’s internal thoughts, inter-species diplomacy, and what it means to be different, in all its joys and sorrows. I liked having a quick and interesting audiobook for a long drive, but I don’t know that I’m dying to read the sequel. It felt like a pretty complete story to me, though Okorafor is talented, so I’m sure the next works are just as good!
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abutler's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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ejb44's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor centres itself on Himba woman Binti who decides to go against what her village expects of her and go to university. On this journey she faces one of the hardest experiences of her life, one that will follow her through the rest of the series and be a key factor in her trauma-healing and decision making. From themes of identity and culture-mixing to friendship and family struggles, Okorafor doesn’t fail to beautifully explore what it means to be from various cultures. 

For such a short book, Okorafor manages to create such a detailed world without compromising character and plot development. This skill is fairly unique, and I think the balance between these three aspects of a novel entangle with each other so well. Every aspect of the science fiction in this novel is capitalised to its maximum, without feeling overbearing like I felt it did in her other novel Lagoon. 

Okorafor’s exploration of identity, migration and how others’ perceptions of you can shape those aspects of your life really root this story – it is obvious from the beginning the message she is trying to put across. By placing themes of migration and identity in a post-colonial context and exploring these conversations free from European influence, Okorafor is expanding the limitations faced by black women. These themes permeate the other books in the series and never once become repetitive. The message really hit home for me, as someone who has grown up not really fitting in with any other culture in my family (the perks of growing up with parents from two countries!). Okorafor brings in her own ideas as she is Nigerian but was raised in America, and you can tell from the writing it really is a topic that means a lot to her and is close to her heart. 

Overall this book is fantastically brilliant, short, vibrant and deals with important topics in such a short space of words. I would also recommend the book Shame On Me by Tessa McWatt to accompany you’re reading of this series as it deals with the same subjects from a non-fiction point of view. 

 

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hanathemah's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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carissa230's review against another edition

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challenging fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 Binti is the first of her country to be chosen to go off planet to university, it doesn't go well for the ship.

It's really short so not much else to say without being a complete spoiler outside the synopsis. 
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jenkneebee's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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mar's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

3.0

this book has great potential and AHH I wish it was full-length novel! the integration of Himba culture with sci-fi was absolutely incredible, and I really liked the aliens in this story, the author did a great job making them feel actually, y'know, alien. still, the plot felt too rushed even for a novella, so the events happen too fast to have any emotional impact, and the worldbuilding was really cool but felt kinda too bare-bones at times, rarely going into as much detail as I wished. considering the thing that bothered me the most was that the world wasn't explored in enough detail, i'll definitely be picking up the other two books, especially since they're both longer, so hopefully won't feel like they're moving too fast. this feels like the sort of trilogy that should be read and judged as a whole.
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obscurepages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

 Okay I need the next two books in this trilogy!

Binti was such a nice surprise. I read this book without knowing anything much about it and was pleasantly surprised with what I read. From the writing, to the characters, to the world-building, they were all so wonderful. I definitely need to know more about their fictional world though, I'm so curious about it—imagine it, humans and aliens interacting and co-existing with each other.

I loved the subtle suspense and thrill of the story, and I also loved how Binti's culture and customs were highlighted in the story. I hope I see more of it in the next books.

Exact rating: 4.5 stars!

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